{"id":227622,"date":"2019-08-21T06:07:18","date_gmt":"2019-08-21T10:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=227622"},"modified":"2019-08-21T06:07:18","modified_gmt":"2019-08-21T10:07:18","slug":"trudeau-says-falling-news-revenues-and-tech-giants-will-be-discussed-at-g7-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/08\/21\/trudeau-says-falling-news-revenues-and-tech-giants-will-be-discussed-at-g7-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"Trudeau says falling news revenues and tech giants will be discussed at G7 summit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Trudeau said Tuesday the situation requires more than a \u201cone-off solution.\u201d (File Photo<\/a>: Justin Trudeau\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the issue of declining news revenues amid domination by tech giants will be discussed at the G7 leaders’ summit in France later this week.<\/p>\n

The subject resurfaced when Groupe Capitales Medias, a cash-strapped French-language newspaper chain, filed for creditor protection Monday.<\/p>\n

The same day, the Quebec government announced a $5-million loan from Investissement Quebec to the media company, whose daily newspapers include Le Droit of Gatineau-Ottawa and Quebec City’s Le Soleil.<\/p>\n

Trudeau said Tuesday the situation requires more than a \u201cone-off solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need one that the international community will adhere to,\u201d the prime minister told reporters in Trois-Rivieres, Que.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has to pay their share,\u201d he said, referring to digital companies that have often managed to sidestep tax rules applied to legacy media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a question we will certainly be discussing this weekend at the G7, where the international community is looking at how to make sure it’s fair for the whole system.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Trudeau reiterated that his government was not mulling a tax hike on taxpayers.<\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron recently imposed a landmark tax on tech companies like Google and Facebook that is designed to stop multinationals from avoiding taxes by setting up European headquarters in low-tax European Union countries. The companies have lured advertising revenues away from traditional news outlets.<\/p>\n

Currently, companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Airbnb and Uber pay very little tax on their significant business in countries like France.<\/p>\n

The three per cent tax that went into force last month mainly concerns companies that use consumer data to sell online advertising.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has said the tax is discriminatory against U.S. business.<\/p>\n

In Sherbrooke, Que., where Trudeau was slated to appear at a candidate’s nomination event, local resident Gaston Lachance said that news media can be viewed as a public service and may warrant financial support.<\/p>\n

\u201cNewspapers provide a service to the population in the sense that they furnish the intellectual food to make clear decisions,\u201d said Lachance, 64.<\/p>\n

Colette Bergeron, who works at Sherbrooke city hall, said she feels bad for any employees who would lose their jobs in the event of a closure, but noted she relies more on television news than the local paper, La Tribune, which is owned by Groupe Capitales Medias.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s like a waste of money,\u201d she said of potential government aide, \u201cbut it would also save jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

-with files from Morgan Lowrie and The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the issue of declining news revenues amid domination by tech giants will be discussed at …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":210312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-stephanie-marin","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227622"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227623,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227622\/revisions\/227623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}